Its been a trip.....

Since my last post where I raved about Design*Sponge....I was so inspired with what I saw there it kicked off a spurt of creativity. I have since repurposed 4 large pieces of furniture. Repainted the studio, have the supplies to repurpose an old door into a funky studio table. I am hoping when I go back to the 3 floor, 1 city block flea market they still have the retro 50's dining chairs to go with this "new table". Did i mention they are aqua turquoise!!!! One thing is leading to the other.
In the mix of it all.....tile shopping and rounding up supplies for the laundry room. I tell ya what, I am keeping busy....the great news, all that "college furniture" (which was still in good shape) did not go to the thrift store...it went to a family down the street that lost everything in a house fire. Plus an extra queen bed, and 2 nightstands.

I have not forgotten ya'll...just lots going on. Am I keeping it simple?....SURE....work on one project at a time, while that project has down time, go and round up supplies for your next job.

Ciao,
Val

Oh dear...

Could I possibly find one more thing to SUCK the time right out of my day? Its design*sponge. yes on the web....Enough said!

Have a fAbUlous evening!
Val

Master Bedroom Makeover...

Still in progress.
Is almost complete...I so want to share what I have already done, but I want it to be a big reveal. EEEACK. I repurposed a vintage dresser that is just SO ADORABLE now. I cant wait to show you!!

I am still waiting on fabric from Missouri to make the drapes, 2 matboards from bfe through Hobby Lobby, and a canopy that I keep forgetting to call about because the company is in Australia so I would call them in the middle of the night here....maybe I will remember tonight.

You know it was just time, we still had dressers from the college days!!

The closet...ahem..I am here to report my husband has 118 T-shirts. Is that normal? that does not include button downs, polos... Just T-shirts.
I am happy to tell you all he purged 5 t shirts, 6 pairs of pants, 8 ball caps (he has like 30 he kept) so he is making a bit of progress in the less is more arena. Baby steps.

Ola Amigos

I have finally found that fire I was looking for. Staying busy knocking away at that "to do" list. Our family spent the weekend down on the Big Horn. I can now see why this area is touted for excellent fishing and all around beauty. I also learned that moving cows on four wheelers is not all that bad. ahem. Saves your horse when they are out of shape and not rode much (ahem rider included) and man can you cover some country in a hurry. One thing for sure its a task to hold on to your expensive camera and handle a horse moving cattle at the same time. Pics to follow if this computer can handle it.

28 yards of fabric...check
new sewing machine...check (the old one went kaput in the fundraiser project for my nieces high school dance team)
King Coverlet, shams, shower curtain sewn....check
Pics to follow when project complete.....you betcha
paint and supplies...check
framing material...check
tile and grout.....
cement board....
Custom laundry room cabinets....check.....remember way back when I first started this blog (look under laundry room in the list, when I was dreaming about a kick ass laundry room).....well that is about to come a reality. I was so excited to see those delivered I coulda made out with the builder, that would not fly so well with the builders wife nor my husband so I didn't and besides it would have been really weird since he is my ex brother in law. Great builder non the less!!!

What else going on? Well it snowed somewhere around the 10th of this month and reached down to 20 degrees only to be followed by a 73 degree weekend, alot of folks around here lost their pumpkins.....I managed to save mine in the knick of time however there are some very well fed deer running around as they demolished my garden. a bite out of every tomato...Dirty ba$#@!%$!

and the cowgirl camper has a new floor....it looks so nice!! Kids are in the swing of things and all is well on the homefront!! Just gotta batten down the homestead for a long winter I reckon.

Little birdies

I have been incognito here the past few weeks. It seems this cowgirl is going through a bout of empty nest syndrome. I never realized how much my little ones daily schedules of napping, eating and playtime had affected my own schedule. Now I am not complaining just saying its very weird not to have them under wing during the day. Its hard to explain, I feel a bit discombobulated. I have been keeping a to do list and adding to it when a project would come up, and lo and behold the day came and I found myself absolutely not wanting to do any of it. Sure I have knocked a few things out, however I really thought I would hit it at fever pitch. Transition dear, its all transition......is what my ya ya's are telling me, the ya ya's that have experienced true empty nest, like all of their kids are out of high school!!! So I suppose the lesson here is true self direction. Hang with me folks I will be up and running again very soon with posting and pictures. Please send "light a fire under me ass" vibes!!

XOXO
Val

Food Storing....get it touch with your inner squirrel!!

I have been following some baby steps in food storage, finding myself a bit frustrated at times....moving stuff from here to there. 1. To make max use of available space and 2. I find myself not using a cabinet or shelf just because its hard for me to get to. I am a shorty, and really the shelves that reach to the ceiling are well a pia. great for storage but not everyday digging.3. My jars of canned goods are increasing....they are heavy and I only want to touch them once when putting them away until I need them. I actually found a site where a guy moves most of his food storage from the basement to the upstairs closet every year for some reason to do with heat exposure on the legumes. huh? maybe its a built in workout program. I dunno bout ya'll, I do not want to do that.

So let me introduce you to this wonderful blog I stumbled upon searching for visuals on food storage.....My Food Storage Deals!! Holy Spinnoli Batman, I gasped, I got a bit veclamped. It is exactly what I needed....an actual hard core visual picture of organized, functional food storage. I am one of those visual spacial types, I must be able to see what 400 pounds of bagged flour looks like. Not buckets stacked high and dry I would soon forget what I had and get sick of moving buckets. Go check her out, it rocks! She is listed in the cool blogs to the right. I think the key essential to get off the right foot is good sturdy shelving, like a foundation to success!! Her process is simple, doable and effecient!!

GO SQUIRRELS, GO SQUIRRELS, GET YOUR GAME ON!!!
SC!

Recycled composter

There are some really neat composter's available now with the green movement and the increased interest of gardening. Along with these neato inventions comes a price tag. I remember a comment by whom that I do not remember but it was of this nature "going green is the new green"...the second meaning that is where the money to be made is at. Hmph, that coming from a corporate executive in the energy field just rubs me a bit.
So on the market is a very neat and esthetically pleasing Sun Frost Solar Scrap Eater. Google it, they are indeed very nice and would be great for areas of limited space. However I do not have 600 smackers lying around with nothing to do. Besides its for kitchen scraps, my huge ComposTumbler would have been 500 smackers had I bought it brand new and that baby cooks some serious amounts of 'post.

So I made one of my own with stuff around the yard.


Now the plan was to show you step by step....but I am about ready to take this computer and introduce it to Mr. Ax. argh!

whiskey barrel planter
5 gallon bucket drilled holes all over the bottom
olive garden "salad to go" bowl for the bubble
flat rock to keep bowl from blowing away

Voila! scrap eater right outside the back door so as not having to trek to the back forty to toss. Nice and easy and within easy reach. So now I have a look out for an acrylic bowl to fortify to the top via drilled holes and some zip ties or even a heavy ish lid.


Happy Gardens
Val

Chop Chop!!

Some one hand me a tissue please!! My baby baby is officially a kindergartner! Ack! The last five years have zoomed by faster than I ever could have imagined! My nephew is growing facial hair and is now taller than I. My niece and daughter could not wait for school to start. Those heatherites anyways!!

So that leads me to......getting organized, yes we so let it slip in the summer, big deal, its summer. Not only will I be preparing my home manager binder to keep track of all the "stuff" that comes home from school, I will be juggling canning season and harvesting the garden. Today was freakishly quiet, I thought I would really relish this day......so I decided the hum of the new sewing machine would keep me company!

You do not have a home managment binder.....do it, it makes life so easy!

Chop Chop, time to get busy!

SC

Houston we have a problem!

Cruising along with kids in tow we get about 75 miles into our trip to the "hi-line" and I am pressing on the gas peddle and it feels a bit mushy...glance down at my dashboard and both the speedometer and rpm dials are at ZERO! oh $#!*. pull over, rev the beejeesus out of it and a prompt u turn back to B town. Quick call to my hubby to let him know where we are. Drive back switch vehicles, then back on the road. Thank goodness we made it all the way back home. ack, this car is what 6 years old is all. I still will not trade it in, I am keeping my clunker. Its paid for.

The really nice thing about driving Ebe's big pick up...the kids are far enough apart in the back there are no karate chops across the face when the other is touching the others "space". WEll that and all the neato buttons on the steering wheel. Saweet!!

The Hi Line it is, mosquitos and tomatos, wedding cake bound and the camera is charged up for a nother round.

Guarding the Groceries.....link

An elderly gentleman that works at the book store was telling me of this today so when I had time I did a little search of my own. Sure enough...I am not surprised, my hubby was in Detroit about a month ago for business, the reported 16% unemployment is not what he heard while there. The locals were reporting it much higher around 30%. So much that freeway traffic has seen a marked decline and driving to work is not much of a hassle.

It reminded me of Zimbabwe in a way.....its not total out and out devastation like Zim but I am also reminded of an online conversation with Mz. Spider back in December ish...."we are not far behind them". Ya know what Lisa, yer right!!!

I did like the included bit about urban homesteading and folks bucking the tide and growing more of their own food....is this what is going to take to get people to take initiative to that...dire circumstances? I guess so, cus the calvery just aint comin!

Back to reading my new garden book....How to Grow More Vegetables. Its a plethora of info on biointensive gardening, really maximizing what you have available, by enriching the soil to the point of saturation of luscious nutrients just waiting to be soaked up by plants bursting forth with edibles. Why did I buy it? the remineralization section....now I replenish my soil with lots of good stuff but this is like a tried and true science of absolute incredible fruiting porportions, Mr. Donohue my Junior high science teacher would be so proud of me.....he was and still is I am sure a total granola, lord board wearing science geek, him and his beutiful bride had kick ass garden way back them, I am sure they still do!!. I routinely challenged him in class and occasionally got kicked out as well. and the section with the varieties of edible landscape trees, bushes etc. so detailed and perfect for what I want to accomplish here at home and in the landscape world I step in and out of in the summer.....thats a hint for you Scotty, its edible landscaping I am betting on it. Manicured grass is soooo last season.

WATCH WAITIN FOR....THE CALVARY? GET THEE TO THE GARDEN AND GET'R DONE!!!

ObamaCare in Montana

Well he hit in on the head Americans are being held hostage by their insurance companies, but he missed a few other key points. Single payer coverage is the same thing only worse!! Ask any vetran. Its true those of us that do have coverage are still being rationed what is covered and what is not. Case in point. Our insurance premiums are covered by our employer, they are up to $1,092 per month per family. My son just received immunizations to go to kindergarten. Wanna know what the bill was. Keep in mind this is considered a well child visit, and state law requires that they have the immunizations and the total premiums for one year is over $13,000. What i pay in co payments IS NOT applied to my deductible. Our deductible is $1,000 per member or $2000 per family, then I get to fork over $4,000 after that in 80/20. Now this does not include any services like labwork. So we estimate having at least $8,000 in a medical savings account if and when we need it. well gosh darn Sally I think we are over $21,000 for medical coverage for one year!!!

Total provider charges 247.25
Total allowed amount 223.73
Total Applied to the deductible 0.00
Total Coinsurance/Copayment 89.49
Total Amount Payable by Plan 134.24
My total responsibility to the provider 89.49

ITS EXTORTION! coming up with a new single payer plan is just running neck and neck with the current insurance companies. Insurance companies need to be held accountable for what they are doing to their clients.....its charging for a product and not following through on their commitments. Why do they do it? Because they can! If we do not have coverage we face high medical bills in case of a hospitalization, if we do have coverage we face paying high premiums and still have substantial bills to pay.

Tort reform and frivolous lawsuits MUST BE ADDRESSED!! Its absolutely ridiculous for doctors and surgeons and hospitals to "have to" carry malpractice insurance that is expensive. How about paying back 289,000 in university bills along with 125,000 per year premium on insurance so you can be a surgeon....... That gets passed on to us the consumer. Its not a matter of "if" they get sued, its a matter of "when".

Another thing to consider is if we reduce our doctors to general lay people, we are asking them to not practice their skill. No they are not better than us but they are different from us.....think about what it takes to actually cut another human being open and find the problem and correct it, if they can. Fair income for doctors, you betcha. Transparency in the bills we receive, you betcha. BTW, we were charged twice for nursing services because it was 2 different shots. huh?

knew a doctor once that carried zero insurance.....and it was posted in the waiting room. He put it all out there for the world to see, he even went as far as to say he owned zero assets so suing him would be pointless. His mission statement had the message that he became a doctor for the passion he felt about helping people blah blah blah and essentially the point came across that his vocation was not about getting rich but doing what he loved to do. take it or leave it. How is that for transparency!!

Its time we clean up this mess of health care and its not by offering a "new plan" that essentially rivals the current plan but by weeding out the low life, scum sucking ambulance chasers and the laws that support them and holding insurance companies accountable for fraudulent practice. Doctors need to stop excessive runabout for this and that oh like 5 MRI's for what ever, and hospitals need to stop charging $5 for a damn aspirin! People in general need to be accountable as well for themselves.....lay down the fork, lay off the booze, lay off the McDonalds and fried chicken! Patient accountability, hmmm there's a thought! Don't even get me started on the psychiatric mental health debacle that is essentially putting billions in the pockets of the Pharmaceutical companies......which are traded on the stock market!! gee I wonder what their mission statement is? The ridiculous bullshit practices where Viagra is covered by scrip plans but birth control and hormone replacement therapy is not. WTF? Seriously its all snowballing out of control and sooner or later we are all gonna get rolled on.

G'day ya'll
S.C.

Saurkraut

This is so darn easy to make!
All you need is cabbage, salt and some tools.

Shred the cabbage, mine was 4 heads out of the garden
Salt
food safe bucket
wooden tamper
plate to fit inside bucket
weight to hold plate
panty hose or cheese cloth

Layer shredded cabbage and salt, I used about a Tablespoon of salt per head of cabbage and let it rest in food safe bucket to sweat, once the sweating is good and going, go out to the garage and find a wooden 2x2 so you can start tamping the cabbage to form a brine. You will want enough liquid to cover the cabbage during the fermentation. Add a bit of salt water (1 tsp to 1 qt of water) if you just cannot create enough brine. Once ya got that done, place a plate over the cabbage in the bucket and weight it down with a clean rock or just a canning jar filled with water(lid on). I used a pair of CLEAN panty hose to cover the top of the bucket to keep flying critters out. Set in cool dark place and let it do its biness. It will stink for a few days kinda like a cabbage fart....just sayin. Its been 5 days and that farty odor is no longer. A few more days and it will be ready to eat.

The BEST Bacon

I am not kidding, just look at this bacon!!! Good ole Montana Made Bacon!!



said bacon, chopped up and added to a pile of freshly steamed garden green beans.....lip licken goodness. Gobbled down, no picture just trust me.

Heifer International

Just wondering? If Heifer International is based out of Little Rock, Arkansas then is it safe to say that there would be no food to plate issues in Arkansas? Just a question I was wondering about in lieu of food security issues......does any one know the answer? Anyone? Anyone?